The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Sports

June 26, 2009

Mountain State Academy names new basketball coach

By Dave Morrison

Mountain State Academy has found its new basketball coach.

It’s none other than Rodney Crawford.

That name will resonate with fans of WVU coach Bob Huggins.

Crawford played for Huggs at Cincinnati and was on the team that advanced to the Sweet 16, falling to Stanford in Anaheim.

Crawford has been at Harmony Prep in Cincinnati and has compiled an 80-8 record over the last two-plus seasons.

He played for the 25-10 Cincinnati Bearcats team that advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2001 and lost to No. 2 seeded Stanford 75-63.

MSA officials expect to make the formal announcement next week.

Crawford replaces Rob Fulford, who will be coaching at a yet-to-be named school in Huntington next season.

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Amid workouts for the coming season, Fayetteville’s Chase Lafferty got some good news.

The runner-up for the Hunt Award — given to the state’s top lineman — was selected for the FBU Top Gun camp next month.

Lafferty, 6-foot-2, 285 pounds, was one of 80 to make the cut. That’s 80 out of some 10,000 potential invitees at 32 combines around the country.

And it puts him in line to possibly go to a prep all-star game in December.

“I didn’t think I’d make it,” Lafferty said. “There were a lot of kids, a lot of good talent. It definitely feels good to make it there.”

The camp will be held July 27-29.

Meanwhile, Lafferty is being pursued by several Division I schools.

And that includes the Mountaineers, both of them.

In addition to WVU, Appalachian State is currently on Lafferty’s radar.

“I just visited Appy State and I loved that place,” he said.

Lafferty said his top six, in no particular order, are Appy State, WVU, Marshall, Maryland, Akron and Wake Forest.

Fayetteville, with Frank Spangler back at the helm, recently finished up its summer practice and figures to be one of the teams to beat in Class A.

In addition to Lafferty, the team also returns running back Drew Weis and quarterback Michael-Angelo Hernandez.

“I think we’re going to be pretty good,” Lafferty said. “We lost some wide receivers and a couple of linemen. But we have some guys stepping up.”

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Stephen Dye, a former all-stater at Marsh Fork, has been named the new head basketball coach at Glenville State.

Dye played at Alderson-Broaddus and set the NCAA record for career three-pointers with 444.

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Former Fayetteville all-stater Josh Evans has decided to transfer from Marshall to Coastal Carolina.

He should be a major factor immediately after starting several games for the Herd.

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Ben Wood has certainly made an impression for the WVU Tech wrestling team.

The former Independence standout wrestler advanced to the NAIA national tournament in Oklahoma City and had three matches there.

On the season, he finished with an 11-6 record.

But that was just the beginning.

Wood was also named Academic All-America after holding down a 3.95 GPA in history and government at the Montgomery school.

After graduating next year, Wood plans to get into law enforcement and possibly work for the Secret Service.

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